Technology Award

ISJ award

 
The Technology Award is presented to the developer of a technology that is highly original and has demonstrated excellent practicality in the industry related to the field covered by the Society.
In principle, one year or more and less than five years have passed since the publication of technical results at the time of application.
Please refer to the “Nominating Committee News” for information on the recruitment of candidates for the Technology Award.
 

FY 2021 (30th)

Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.
“Development of high-speed sheet-fed inkjet printer TASKalfaPro 15000c”

 
Reason for winning the award: The TASKalfa Pro 15000c inkjet printer achieves high durability and productivity with non-stop printing of 150 A4 sheets per minute and 9,000 sheets per hour thanks to new technologies related to inkjet head maintenance, water-based pigment ink design, and high-speed paper transport. The new technology has made it possible to reduce the environmental impact and the cost of printed matter.
 

Noriaki Ozawa
Yasuko Takaori
Takashi Somete
Sachio Izumichi

Konica Minolta, Inc.
“Development of the AccurioPress C14000 System for Innovative Efficiency in High-Volume Production Prints”

 
Reason for winning the award: The “AccurioPress C14000 System”, a dry color electrophotographic engine, achieves the world’s fastest print speed of 140 A4 sheets per minute through the use of new technologies such as double stage magnetic brush development, a thin-film coated intermediate transfer belt, and fifth-generation chemical toner. In addition, automation and efficiency have been achieved in the pre- and post-printing processes through new technologies such as an automatic image dirt inspection function, high-precision front/back position adjustment, and the implementation of a media detection function using a media sensor and AI inference. These new technologies have made it possible to reduce operator skill in the adjustment process and reduce inspection processes.
 

Takashi Ito
Shoichi Nomura
Shota Igou
Tomohiro Kawasaki
Shinya Obara

FY 2019 (29th)

Seiko Epson Corporation
“Development of Halftone Technology for Improving Robustness against Misregistration”

 
Reason for winning the award: Landing position deviation due to the reciprocating operation of the inkjet printer head was the main factor that lowered the average image quality and increased the variation between machines. In order to eliminate these image quality deterioration factors, we clarified the graininess deterioration mechanism due to the occurrence of misalignment and eliminated the cause. With this technology, graininess does not deteriorate even when misalignment occurs during reciprocating operation, making it possible to greatly improve the image quality of inkjet printers.
 

Toshiaki Kakutani
Satoshi Yamasaki
Kohei Utsunomiya

Ricoh Company, Ltd
“Development of high-speed continuous inkjet printer ‘RICOH Pro VC70000’ equipped with new drying technology”

 
Reason for winning the award: The drying technology developed for the RICOH Pro VC70000 makes it possible to greatly improve ink drying performance while suppressing wrinkles (cockling) on ​​paper by adopting a configuration in which paper is repeatedly wound around multiple heating rollers. As a result, the maximum printing speed on offset coated paper was 150m/min while keeping the device size and power consumption to the same level as its predecessor. Furthermore, by combining drying technology and ink, the color reproduction range and print density have been greatly expanded, enabling high-quality printing approaching that of offset printing.
 

Hideaki Nishimura
Dan Ozasa
Hisashi Hbashi

FY 2017 (28th)

Konica Minolta, Inc.
“High-speed, high-quality formation technology using new UV curable ink and halftone patterning”

 
Reason for winning the award: High-speed, high-quality printing comparable to offset printing has been achieved by designing a UV curable ink that uses multiple wax oil gelling agents and image processing technology with outstanding high-speed pinning and image gloss control.
 

Hirotaka Iijima
Tadashi Hirano
Toshiyuki Hirabayashi
Toyoaki Sugaya
Toshiyuki Mizutani

FY 2016 (27th)

Mitsubishi Paper Mills Co., Ltd.
“Conductive Pattern Formation Technology without Firing Using Silver Nanoparticle Ink and Porous Halide-Containing Paper”

 
Reason for winning the award: We have developed a new conductive pattern forming technology that forms electronic circuit wiring without baking by combining silver nanoparticles and special media. The silver nanoparticles have a low environmental load, are easy to handle, are water-based solvents, and have an average particle size of about 20 nm. The dedicated media has a porous layer made of nano-level inorganic pigment, binder, cross-linking agent, etc., and the average pore diameter of the porous layer is designed to be close to the average particle diameter of the silver nanoparticles. Therefore, when the silver nanoink is printed on the special media, the porous layer rapidly absorbs the solvent through capillary action, depositing the silver nanoparticles on the surface. Furthermore, the porous layer contains halide, which diffuses due to the absorbed solvent component, acts on the silver nanoparticles deposited on the surface, and fuses with each other to develop electrical conductivity. This technology does not require a sintering process, and is a technology that can produce electronic circuit elements at high speed. It deserves a technology award for its innovation and novelty.
 

Shigeki Shino
Shoji Akaiwa
Naoya Nishimura

FY 2015 (26th)

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd
“Development of gold and silver metallic toner for electrophotography”

 
Reason for winning the award: In the conventional electrophotographic apparatus, post-processing is required for printing metallic images such as gold and silver. They established precision control technology for the toner structure based on our unique emulsion polymerization aggregation method, and developed new gold and silver toners which were installed in the electrophotographic printer “Color 1000i Press.” New expansion of electrophotographic technology can be expected.
 

Masanobu Ninomiya
Hirokazu Hamano
Shuji Sato
Masaru Takahashi
Akihiro Iizuka

Sony Corporation, E ink Japan Co., Ltd.
“Development of digital paper using A4 flexible electronic paper”

 
Reason for winning the award: They developed A4 size flexible electronic paper.It has a light and thin paper-like feel, and has the same operability and writing feel as pen writing on a notebook in touch panel and digital pen applications.It is expected that the value of electronic paper will increase by realizing paperless conferences based on digital conference software.The contribution of building a foundation for future dissemination can be highly evaluated.
 

Kunihiro Shioura (Sony)
Keisuke Hashimoto (E ink Japan)

Seiko Epson Corporation
“Development of PrecisionCore technology that combines thin film piezo technology and Si-MEMS technology”

 
Reason for winning the award: In order to achieve even higher image quality and productivity in inkjet printing, they developed a highly scalable print chip technology using PrecisionCore technology, which combines thin-film piezo technology and MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Syetems) manufacturing technology. Specifically, it was the development of a piezo crystal film that exhibits high displacement performance with a thickness of about 1 μm, and the development of high-density processing technology such as ink flow paths. In addition to high image quality and high productivity, it is a highly original print chip technology with high expandability and low cost, and is worthy of the technology award.
 

Satoshi Oguchi
Eiju Hirai
Shunya Fukuda
Shunsuke Watanabe
Yuuma Fukuzawa

FY 2014 (25th)

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd
“Development of highly reliable long-life xerography drum unit”

 
Reason for winning the award: In this technology, they made full use of newly developed analysis technology to quantitatively and dynamically clarify the relationship between toner/external additive behavior and wear in the cleaning section for the first time. The results of this research were commercialized as a systemically optimized xerography drum unit that adopted characteristic components such as a two-layer blade, and achieved a longer lifespan that significantly changed trends in life. The cleaning analysis technology was highly praised for transforming the development process into a more rational one and achieving long-life performance. In addition, as a result of efforts aimed at preventing global warming, it has also made a significant contribution to society in terms of low carbonization.
 

Kazuhiko Arai
Nobuyuki Nakayama
Masashi Ogasawara
Yasuhiro Oda
Toru Teshigawara

Soken Chemical Co., Ltd., Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.
“Commercialization of twist ball type electronic paper”

 

Reason for winning the award: The twist ball display system itself was invented by Xerox Corporation, but the microchannel manufacturing method for colored particles and the microchannel manufacturing apparatus used therefor are original technologies invented by the winners. These are worthy of attention and praise as the key technology that led to the world’s first practical application and commercialization of the twist ball display system. Although the response seems to be modest at the moment, by applying electronic paper to large screens and achieving resource-saving large display panels that are easy to see even under direct sunlight, its range of applications is wide. It is expected that it will gradually become a big hit in the future.
 

Yoichi Takizawa (Soken Chemical)
Hironori Kobayashi (Dai Nippon Printing)

Fujifilm Co., Ltd.
“Development of JetPress720 Series of Inkjet Digital Printer”

 

Reason for winning the award: This system was the first to be put into practical use as a high-speed inkjet printer capable of printing high-quality images on B2-sized general-purpose coated paper.
Breakthroughs have been recognized in the following technologies;
・Highly reliable, high-density IJ head technology with ink circulation function using Si-MEMS process and suputter-PZT
・Wide head cleaning technology that combines web and cleaning liquid
・Material technology and marking process technology that combine water-based latex pigment ink and preconditioning liquid to achieve dot quality, film properties, and low curl
・Image processing technology that performs halftone and correction that is resistant to uneven streaks caused by single pass
・High-precision paper transport technology using suction drums
It has been praised as “digital printing that can be mixed with offset printed materials”,and it has received a great social response as it achieves the image quality of offset printing on general-purpose coated paper. In addition, it has excellent deinking performance, and has been awarded “Good Deinkable” from the evaluation organization INDEGE.


 

Setsuji Tatsumi
Yusuke Nakazawa
Yoshiaki Inoue
Terukazu Yanagi
Jun Yamanobe

FY 2013 (24th)

Mitsubishi Paper Mills Co., Ltd.
“Development of Coated Paper ‘SWORD iJET’ for Production Inkjet Printers”

 
Reason for winning the award: This coated paper is a technology fusion of coated paper for offset printing machines and special paper for inkjet printers. In addition to high ink absorbency and color development, it also has good ink fixation properties, so printing speeds can be set high and drying temperatures can be set low, reducing energy costs. It also holds up well to post-processes such as offset printing, folding, and bookbinding, and is compatible with almost all production inkjet printers. It is believed that the product will receive a great response as a product that largely meets latent demand by meeting market demands while keeping costs down.
 

Masanori Nagoshi
Toru Kaneko
Hajime Endo
Hideki Takada
Yoshihiko Hibino

Ricoh Company, Ltd
“AC transfer technology”

 
Reason for winning the award: The technique of applying an alternating current to the transfer has been known for a long time, but it is appreciable that the use of a high electric field, that is, an AC high electric field near the breakdown electric field of air, has been put to practical use. In addition, sufficient effectiveness analysis has been carried out, and the fact that the difficult technology was implemented using a scientific approach is commendable. The social impact of this technology, which has made it possible to transfer onto textured paper such as embossed paper, which was previously difficult, is also recognized.
 

Shinji Aoki
Haruo Iimura
Yasuhiko Ogino
Keigo Nakamura

Toshiba Tec Corporation
“Loops (paper reuse system)”

 
Reason for winning the award: The system has achieved a high level of technological achievement by overcoming multiple technical hurdles, including the new development of a low-temperature fixing toner that uses microcapsule colorants that can erase color in a short period of time. The idea and concept of incorporating a scanner into the color erasing system, which not only stores document data but also determines whether or not paper can be reused, is an excellent idea, achieving a complete product that is highly convenient for users. Compared to e-Blue, erasing has been greatly simplified, and the social impact has been recognized not only as a contribution to specific users, but also as a good example of technological evolution in the environmental aspect of electrophotography technology.
 

Minoru Yoshida
Tetsuya Nakamura
Isao Yahata
Takahito Kabai
Satoshi Kinouchi

FY 2012 (23rd)

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd
“Development of inline image sensor for production printer Color1000Press”

 
Reason for winning the award: Technologies that enable inline image detection and processing using paper posture control technology and real-time processing using dynamically reconfigurable processors can be evaluated. It can be highly praised as the first technology that enables multidimensional detection control from conventional zero-dimensional process control. It also has great social significance as it provides a strong means of guaranteeing the necessary image quality in order for the electrophotographic method, which is expected to be used in the area of ​​small-lot, high-mix printing, to be widely used as an alternative to traditional printing technology.
 

Akira Ishii
Masao Ito
Sunao Ishizaki
Toshiyuki Kazama
Katsuhiko Nakaie

SIJ Technology Co., Ltd.
“Development and practical application of super inkjet technology”

 
Reason for winning the award: TThe ultra-fine droplet formation technology using a unique electric field concentrated electrostatic method can be evaluated as an extremely superior technology in terms of its leap forward from conventional technology and its effects such as miniaturization of drawn patterns (approximately 1/10 of existing inkjet technology) and high ink compatibility. Not only is it attracting technological attention in terms of the miniaturization of inkjet droplets, but it is also having an extremely large influence on technological areas that are attracting the most attention, such as digital fabrication. Several achievements have been also accumulated in the field of research and development as a technology that can be expected to develop in the future.
 

Kazuhiro Murata

Ricoh Company, Ltd
“Development of Rewritable Laser System”

 
Reason for winning the award: They have put into practical use a technology that takes advantage of the characteristics of leuco dye-based laser thermal recording, including the development of a protective layer that prevents image degradation caused by ultraviolet rays, which was a drawback of thermal rewritable technology, and the development of a character creation algorithm that prevents overheating during writing. It is highly commendable that they have put together a system that is much more robust and durable than the conventional thermal recording method. Not only does this enable revolutionary operational efficiency in logistics systems, but it also has great social significance, such as reducing CO2 emissions.
 

Tomomi Ishimi
Shinya Kawahara
Kazutaka Yamamoto
Takahiro Furukawa
Yoshihiko Hotta

FY 2011 (22nd)

Seiko Epson Corporation
“Inkjet printer equipped with water-based white ink using hollow particles”

 

Reason for winning the award: The winner has released the PX-W8000 inkjet printer equipped with water-based white ink. The newly developed ink is a water-based white ink, and hollow particles are used as the coloring material to express its whiteness. Hollow particles are spherical acrylic resin particles of 1.0 µm or less, and as the name suggests, they have a structure with a hollow center. It is designed to appear white by utilizing the difference in the refractive index of light between the “shell” of the polymer part and the “empty” part of the center. By using this hollow resin particle, a product having the following characteristics has become possible;
(1) It is possible to obtain whiteness and shielding properties comparable to those of conventional titanium dioxide.
(2) Since the specific gravity is low and the sedimentation speed is slow, there is no need for a new control mechanism in the printer itself to avoid sedimentation, and the specifications of conventional inkjet printers can be applied as is.
(3) No maintenance or special operating skills are required for printing.
(4) Environmentally friendly water-based ink does not require special ventilation equipment at the printer installation location.


 

Takayoshi Kagata
Kennichi Seguchi
Yuji Hatanaka
Tsuyoshi Sano

Konica Minolta Business Technologies Co., Ltd.
“Development of high chroma toner that challenged to provide vivid color reproduction and vivid value”

 

Reason for winning the award: They have developed a proprietary high chroma toner technology and commercialized it by installing it in full-color digital printing machines bizhub PRESS C65hc and bizhub PRESS C70hc.
The magenta, blue, and green regions, which were difficult to reproduce with conventional electrophotographic technology and offset printing, have been greatly expanded using new CMYK toners, achieving color reproduction close to the sRGB color gamut. In order to achieve significant improvements in hue and saturation suitable for the sRGB color range, we developed a copper chelate type magenta colorant and a phthalocyanine type cyan colorant. They also developed a high chroma toner using color material dispersion technology, color development process design, and new latex design. The magenta colorant chelate dye utilizes a chelate complex formation reaction between a chelate pigment-forming dye and a metal ion-supplying compound, and the chelate pigment-forming pigment and metal ion-supplying compound were optimally designed. This made it possible to simultaneously improve spectral absorption characteristics and robustness. As a cyan colorant, copper phthalocyanine, which is a pigment and has excellent fastness properties, is generally and widely used. Here, they investigated various cyan colorants and finally changed the central metal of copper phthalocyanine to an atom with an axial ligand, thereby changing the hue and improving brightness and saturation. This technology has made it possible to simply and easily provide brightly colored printed matter with high added value, which was not possible with conventional offset printing or electrophotographic printing.


 

Hiroyuki Yasukawa
Kaori Matsushima
Kenji Hayashi
Koji Daifuku
Meizo Shirose

Canon Inc
“DreamLabo 5000 technology that realized one-pass photo printing”

 

Reason for winning the award: Inkjet arranges a large number of nozzles that eject ink droplets in a compact print head, and can draw on paper without contact. For this reason, it is suitable as a serial printer and has become popular as an inexpensive, high-quality printer. On the other hand, line printers have also appeared in which a print head is fixed to the width of the paper, and the paper is transported and printed in one pass directly below the nozzle. While printing is possible with this dramatic increase in productivity, there are fundamental issues in achieving high image quality. Therefore, with conventional inkjet technology, it is technically difficult to achieve both high image quality and high productivity at a high level, and such equipment has not existed.
The Dreamlabo 5000, which the award winners announced in 2011, is the industry’s first commercial photo printer that is a line printer capable of high-speed printing and one-pass printing, while also producing dramatically high-quality photographic images. In addition to improving and optimizing the shape and placement of individual nozzles, they have developed a new printer head that has approximately 10,000 nozzles arranged in high density per inch of print width. The printer is equipped with 7 of these heads (for 7 colors). By having a redundant number of nozzles, even slight fluctuations and variations in individual nozzles are canceled out on the image, resulting in a significant improvement in image quality. The ink is dye ink in seven colors: black, magenta, cyan, and yellow, plus photo cyan, photo magenta, and gray, achieving a wide color gamut and smooth tonality. High-precision paper transport technology, automatic duplexing mechanism, and automatic maintenance system have also been developed and installed in the printer itself.


 

Yasutsugu Saijo
Toshiaki Hirosawa
Yohei Sato
Kumiko Mafune
Yasutomo Watanabe

FY 2010 (21st)

Bridgestone Corporation
“High-speed response electronic paper ‘AeroBee’ using electronic liquid powder”

 

Reason for winning the award: AeroBee, a high-speed response electronic paper using electronic liquid powder, is a completely reflective display that does not use a backlight, and the displayed image has a memory that does not disappear even when the power is turned off. It is a completely new display that has never been seen before. The newly developed electronic liquid powder has extremely high fluidity and high-speed response (can switch between black and white in 0.2 msec).
Furthermore, since it has memory properties, it has the feature of extremely low power consumption during use. For this reason, this display has already been put to practical use in a wide range of application fields, such as the retail field, FA field, office field, and advertising field, and will continue to be used as a display in fields that consume a large amount of paper, such as the electronic information field. This will greatly contribute to electronic paper technology.


 

Itsuo Tanuma
Hajime Tamura
Ryo Sakurai
Shingo Ohno
Yoshitomo Masuda

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd
“Development of New EA-Eco Toner”

 
Reason for winning the award: They have developed EA-Eco toner, which has a fixing temperature approximately 20°C lower than conventional EA (Emulsion Aggregation) toner. By giving EA-Eco toner a sharp change in viscosity with temperature, the viscosity is sufficiently low even at low temperatures, and the lowest fixing temperature is about 20°C lower than that of conventional toner. This was achieved by optimally arranging the newly developed sharp-melt polyester, which melts at high temperatures, and the normal polyester, which melts slowly, inside the toner using our unique emulsification-aggregation technology. In addition, like conventional EA toner, EA-Eco toner is a complete oil-free toner that contains wax, and has sharper melting characteristics to achieve gloss reproducibility that follows the gloss of paper. By using EA-Eco toner, which has both low fixing temperature and high gloss reproducibility, it was possible to reduce power consumption by approximately 40% in gloss mode compared to EA toner, making a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. EA-Eco toner is already in practical use and installed in 12 models including the 700 Digital Color Press.
 

Katsumi Daimon
Toshiyuki Yano
Hiroshi Nakazawa
Yoshihiro Maekawa
Yutaka Sugisaki

FY 2009 (20th)

Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
“Practical implementation of 1-pass full color direct thermal recording system (ZINK)”

 
Reason for winning the award: they have put into practical use a full-color direct thermal recording system that outputs full-color images in one pass. By optimizing the thermal head and temperature control during heating recording on laminated full-color thermal recording paper consisting of a cyan layer, magenta layer, and yellow layer, a small, thin, built-in full-color printer was realized. The present technology eliminates the need for the ink ribbon required for conventional full-color thermal recording and enables one-pass recording, which greatly contributes to the advancement of NIP technology.
 

Hirotoshi Terao
Hisashi Hoshino
Shinichi Sagawai
Toshiyuki Yamamoto
Minoru Takeuchi

FY 2008 (19th)

Canon Inc
“Challenge to diversify electrophotographic image expression using transparent toner imagePRESSC1+”

 
Reason for winning the award: This technology not only reproduces flat gloss equivalent to the gloss of coated paper, but also enables partial matte/gloss effects and textured image reproduction using transparent toner. Specifically, the matte/gloss effect was achieved by one-pass fixing, in which transparent toner is placed on a full-color image and fixed at once, and two-pass fixing, in which after fixing the full-color image, a transparent toner image is overlaid and fixed.
 

Yoshikuni Ito
Mitsuhiro Ohta
Wakashi Iida

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd
“Development of 1200dpi LED color multifunction device using self-scanning LED”

 
Reason for winning the award: They solved the problems with conventional LED printheads while increasing resolution, and achieved performance equivalent to or better than ROS, while also being smaller and less noisy. The development of 1200dpi SLED technology with high resolution self-scanning function and high mechanism driver ASIC that controls and corrects the exposure of light emitting dots with high accuracy resulted in the successful development of a high resolution, high image quality and compact LED print head. This technology greatly changes the trend of conventional LED printheads and greatly contributes to the progress of electrophotography.
 

Chikaho Ikeda
Kazuo Terao
Hiroshi Ono
Yukihisa Kusuda
Hiromu Ono

FY 2007 (18th)

ULVAC CORPORATION CENTER
“Formation of conductive film by inkjet printing using independently dispersed metal nanoparticle ink”

 
Reason for winning the award: Independently dispersed metal nanoparticle ink was used for circuit formation, which is the main application field of digital fabrication technology. The company is praised for making it possible to apply inkjet technology and for establishing high dispersion performance of nanoparticles through a unique production method. In addition, it is a suggestive technology that will revolutionize conventional production technology, such as shortening the circuit formation process, reducing environmental impact, and saving resources, and has great social significance.
 

Masaaki Oda
Shigeo Hayashi
Masato Ohsawa
Yoshiaki Hayashi
Kyukou Tei

Kyocera Mita Corporation
“Development of Ecological A3 Color Tandem MFP KM-C4035E Series”

 
Reason for winning the award: Along with extending the lifespan of the a-Si drum, the technological development that has increased the lifespan of major devices such as the belt, developer, and charging roller to 300,000 sheets is highly praised. Among them, the manufacturing method of a-Si drums using the DC plasma CVD method is based on a new concept and is extremely superior in terms of performance, manufacturing quality, and cost. Furthermore, the commercialization of environmentally friendly engines is judged to have high social value.
 

Nariaki Tanaka
Takahisa Nakaue
Shoichi Sakata
Katsuya Ohta
Chikara Ishihara

FY 2006 (17th)

Kao Corporation
“High-speed, high-quality, oil-less compatible polyester toner with a new pulverization method”

 
Reason for winning the award: They have established a full-color toner manufacturing technology that is compatible with non-magnetic single-component development and has a particle size of 5.5 microns using a pulverization method, which was previously considered difficult. In the development of this toner, we introduced open roll kneading, which allows for highly dispersed wax, in order to achieve oil-free use and smaller particle size. Furthermore, as a new technological approach, they introduced a silica preconcrete method that performs pulverization and classification while coating with silica. With the establishment of this technology, we were able to demonstrate that even more advanced techniques for creating fine particles, including reduction in particle size, are possible using pulverization methods. As a result, it has become possible to provide high-value-added printers that satisfy all requirements of small size, oilless, high speed, high resolution, and high durability. It was judged that the impact on customers and the industry as a whole would be significant.
 

Akihiro Eida
Shinichiro Omatsu
Shunji Arita
Jun Shimizu

Panasonic Communications Co., Ltd.
“Color IH fuser heating width control technology”

 
Reason for winning the award: In order to significantly improve energy consumption efficiency in a multifunction device, it is essential to eliminate the need for residual heat operation of the fixing device. This color IH fixing technology achieves the world’s fastest warm-up time of 15 seconds, eliminating the need for preheating operations and achieving high energy consumption efficiency. In order to achieve this high-speed startup, IH heating width control technology is essential. The technique of controlling the heating width of the inner core using a non-magnetic heating element is highly original, and its effectiveness has been proven to be highly practical.
 

Akihiro Yasuda
Shigemitsu Tani
Hideki Tatematsu
Koichi Baba
Masahiro Samei

FY 2005 (16th)

Toshiba Corporation
“Development of Erasable Toner ‘e-blueTM'”

 
Reason for winning the award: The present technology relates to erasable toner for use in electrophotographic printers. This toner contains a coloring material that is produced by chemically bonding a leuco dye and a color developer. Upon heating, the colorant separates into a colorless leuco dye and a color developer, maintaining a colorless state. A dedicated erasing device can erase 500 sheets of paper at once. The electricity required for erasing is 1.1Wh per sheet of paper, which has a smaller environmental impact than recycling paper. The toner used in this research can record images on regular PPC paper, and in-house tests have confirmed that the amount of paper used can be reduced by approximately 60%. The social impact is also huge.
 

Satoshi Takayama
Kenji Sano
Takeshi Gotanda
Fumiyo Matsumura
Kengo Furusawa

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. / Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
“Development of high surface quality fixing device MACS using cooling peeling”

 
Reason for winning the award: The present technology relates to an electrophotographic printer/multifunction device that enables photo output. In order for electrophotography to enter the photographic market, it is essential to improve the surface quality, so they developed MACS technology using cooling peeling. By using the newly developed special paper together, high-quality digital camera printing by electrophotography is made possible. The cooling peeling technology developed in this research has been installed in digital color multifunction printers for convenience stores as a unit using an endless belt, and has received a social response.
 

Yutaka Nogami (Fuji Xerox)
Yasuo Sakaguchi (Fuji Xerox)
Kazunori Numao (Fuji Xerox)
Shinichi Utsumi (Fuji Xerox)
Asa Murai (Fuji Photo Film)

FY 2004 (15th)

Ricoh Company, Ltd
“Energy-saving fixing technology using electric double layer capacitor auxiliary power source”

 
Reason for winning the award: The technology of this research prevents wasteful power consumption and achieves energy saving by using an electric double layer capacitor as an auxiliary power supply. It achieved a warm-up time of 10 seconds in an electrophotographic high-speed copying machine. It is suitable for today’s technical circumstances where reduction of environmental load is required. Although this technology is useful as a new power storage device to replace batteries, this technology is particularly noteworthy as it was the first to be installed in a printer. The social impact is also huge.
 

Kazuhito Kishi
Naoki Sato
Yasuhisa Kato
Masami Okamoto

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“Development of 2400dpi laser exposure system using surface emitting VCSEL”

 
Reason for winning the award: The technology of this research relates to a semiconductor laser exposure mechanism used in an electrophotographic laser printer. By simultaneously developing a surface-emitting semiconductor laser with a 32-beam light source and a laser drive IC, they were able to achieve output performance of 2400 dpi and 100 sheets/min. The technical ability that has allowed them to simultaneously improve both resolution and printing speed and put them into practical use is worthy of praise. In addition, this technology is installed in digital color copiers, color on-demand publishing systems, etc., and has received a social response.
 

Akira Ota
Junichi Ichikawa
Chikaho Ikeda
Nobuaki Ueki

FY 2003 (14th)

Kyocera Mita Corporation

“Development of the world’s smallest color tandem printer FS-5016N”

 
Reason for winning the award: New devices such as small LED heads have been developed to achieve high color image quality, longer device life has significantly reduced printing costs, and the compact design has achieved the smallest and lightest size in its class. They contributed to the spread of color machines.
 

Shigeki Tsukahara, Tadashi Oba, Takayuki Sato, Shoichi Sakata, Yuji Kamiyama
 

Toshiba Tec Corporation
“Development of fuser using electromagnetic induction heating”

 
Reason for winning the award: They have developed a fuser that uses electromagnetic induction heating (IH) as a heat source, which is highly efficient and has a variety of features that have never been seen before. It was the first product in the world to be equipped with this technology, showing a new direction for energy saving in electrophotographic equipment.
 

Osamu Takagi, Satoshi Kinouchi

Canon Inc.
“Development of color IH (electromagnetic induction heating) fixing method”

 
Reason for winning the award: Improvements in both the electromagnetic induction heat source and heated parts, such as the use of sleeves and core/coil calibration, have reduced the warm-up time to 16 seconds or less, and greatly reduced power consumption. The company has also expanded its electromagnetic induction heating technology to color machines, which has received a positive response from society.
 

Koichi Tanigawa, Akihiko Takeuchi, Hiroshi Mano, Atsuyoshi Abe, Minoru Hayasaki
 

FY 2002 (13rd)

Canon Inc.
“Injection electrification cleanerless system”

 
Reason for winning the award: Adopting magnetic brush charging has made great achievements in realizing a cleaner-less system for color machines, and the realization of environment-friendly low running costs deserves recognition.
 

Hiroshi Satomura, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Yoshiaki Koayashi, Atsushi Takeda
 

Ricoh Company, Ltd.
“Development of high-speed color laser printer IPSiO Color 8000/8100 series”

 
Reason for winning the award: A new electrophotographic element technology was established, and a space-saving, high-speed color printer equivalent to a monochrome printer was constructed with a unique imaging engine arrangement and peripheral technology. It contributed to the popularization of color printers by realizing high-speed printing and low cost.
 

Hiroyasu Shijo, Takaaki Yanagisawa, Tomotoshi Nakahara, Motokazu Yasui, Masumi Sato
 

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“Development of emulsion polymerization aggregation method toner (EA toner) that achieves both high image quality and low environmental impact”

 
Reason for winning the award: They developed a small-particle, oil-less color toner using emulsion polymerization, achieved high image quality, and set a new direction for the development of electrophotographic technology, breaking through the limitations of pulverized toner. In addition, the achievement of achieving a large social response by realizing the reduction of environmental load is highly evaluated.
 

Yasuo Matsumura, Chiaki Suzuki, Takao Ishiyama, Hideyuki Akagi, Nobuo Hyakutake
 

FY 2001 (12th)

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“Development of Color DocuTech 60, an on-demand color printing system”

 
Award details: Adopting an electrophotographic quadruple tandem system using an intermediate belt, a new paper transport fixing system, and image control technology, it achieved high image quality, expanded paper versatility, and low running costs.It also received a positive response from society, being recognized as a benchmark machine for color image quality.
 

Jun Takagi, Hideo Saito, Takuo Matsumura, Shoichi Morita, Takashi Imai
 

Oki Digital Imaging Co., Ltd.
“High-speed high-density 1200dpi LED print head”

 
Award details: Based on original technology, we have developed an LED array chip with extremely high luminous efficiency. It has achieved low power consumption and high brightness with the high speed and high density required for print heads of next-generation digital color printers and digital copiers, greatly increasing the convenience of printing in office networks and light printing fields.
 

Masumi Nakatani, Masumi Koizumi, Masaharu Nobori, Hiroshi Tohyama, Yukio Nakamura
 

FY 2000 (11th)

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“Development of high-quality full-color printer/multifunction device Docucolor 1250/1255 series”

 
Award details: Their unique technology has suppressed density unevenness, improved the reproducibility of thin line characters, suppressed reproduction deviations between colors, and increased the degree of freedom in screen design. They have commercialized a full-color printer/composite machine that combines high image quality and high speed.
 

Chikaho Ikeda, Atsushi Hakamada, Shinichi Kanaya, Kenji Ebitani, Tsutomu Kimura
 

Kyocera Mita Corporatio
“Development of high-performance electron transport materials for electrophotographic OPC”

 
Award details: They independently developed electron transport materials and contributed to the advancement of the field of materials technology. They also used these materials to commercialize single-layer electron transport type OPC photoreceptors, which had previously been difficult.
 

Yasufumi Mizuta, Hideki Okada, Fumio Sugai, Yukimasa Watanabe, Masaaki Watanabe
 

FY 1999 (10th)

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
“Color laser printer with all consumables in one cartridge”

 
Award details: A major problem with conventional color laser printers was solved by making the engine part an all-in-one cartridge.
 

Hajime Yamamoto, Hiroshi Terada, Noboru Katakabe, Yoshihiro Urata
 

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd
“Color Laser Wind 3310 ‘Color High Quality Technology'”

 
Award details: By making full use of trickle development technology, intermediate belt transfer technology, and WDD photoreceptor/transfer belt drive technology, they have achieved high image quality and image stability for electrophotographic full-color laser printers.
 

Toshio Masubuchi, Toshio Uchida, Tatsuo Okuno, Koji Hamabe, Ryuji Inaba
 

Canon Inc.
“Practical application of polymerized toner for digital full color”

 
Award details: By developing a polymerized toner for full-color, they commercialized electrophotographic full-color copiers and full-color printers that do not use fixing oil.
 

Masuo Yamazaki, Masaki Uchiyama, Koichi Tanigawa
 

FY 1998 (9th)

Yamanashi Electronics Industry Co., Ltd.
“Photosensitivity control technology for organic photoreceptors”

 
Award details: They have developed a multilayer organic photoreceptor in which the charge generation layer is made of a vapor-deposited film and this layer is immersed before being coated with the charge transport layer. They have developed technology to increase photosensitivity and control photosensitivity with reproducibility and stability, ensuring practicality.
 

Kenichi Fujimori, Fuminori Tsuruta, Yoshitaro Nakayama, Yukio Ohmori, Kazuhito Dohi
 

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“High precision color matching technology (Flexible GCR, 3D-ACCT)”

 
Award details: In color conversion processing for 3 inputs and 4 outputs (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), we have developed an algorithm that makes color reproduction constant at any black replacement (GCR) rate. By improving the color reproduction system, the quality of business documents, photographs, printed matter, illustrations, etc. has been greatly improved.
 

Hitoshi Kokatsu, Shinji Kita, Kazumasa Murai, Yoshiharu Hibi, Yasuhiro Matsuo
 

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
“1200dpi high luminous efficiency LED head”

 
Award details: They have developed a high-density 1200 dpi LED head that has a luminous efficiency one order of magnitude higher than conventional LED heads, and have confirmed its mass production and practicality. It is useful as an energy-saving technology for electrophotographic printers.
 

Mitsuhiko Ogihara, Yukio Nakamura, Hiroshi Hamano, Masumi Yanaka
 

FY 1997 (8th)

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“High precision tandem color registration technology”

 
Award details: In the quad tandem configuration, which is much more compact than a printing press, precise control of the movement of moving components such as the color engine and paper transport belt is essential to achieving image quality comparable to printing. They developed new control technology and materials for each direction orthogonal to the process direction, and achieved an average alignment accuracy of 60 μm at an output speed of 40 sheets per minute on A4 landscape paper.
 

Akio Okamura, kenichi Kobayashi, Mamoru Kido, Masao Ito, Katsumi Sakamaki
 

Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.
“Ultra-high-speed laser printer using multi-beam diagonal scanning technology”

 
Award details: In order to overcome the output speed limitations of a single beam, they have developed a four-beam diagonal scanning optical system that uses a diffraction grating and has low printing distortion. The printer has a print speed of 600 dpi and a print width of 17 inches, with an output speed of 219 pages per minute (A4 equivalent).
 

Keiji Kataoka, Yasuyuki Shibayama, Yoji Hirose, Hideho Yokogawa
 

FY 1996 (7th)

Toshiba Corporation, TEC Corporation
“Development of cleanerless process using one-component non-magnetic development”

 
Award details: A highly compact and high-performance print engine has been developed that eliminates the need for toner cleaning by using a newly designed developing roller and one-component development based on non-magnetic toner. They have shown the direction of environmental protection through electrophotography.
 

Masahiro Hosoya, Yoshimitsu Otaka, Hisayoshi Saegusa
 

Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
“High-definition 600dpi fused thermal transfer printing technology”

 
Award details: By improving the precision of the recording head, control method, and recording material for fusion thermal recording, they achieved a resolution of 600 dpi, which was previously impossible, and achieved image quality close to that of printing on plain paper.
 

Kyoji Shirakawa, Shinichi Sagawai, Hirotoshi Terao, Akimasa Ogami, Ikuo Hibino
 

FY 1995 (6th)

Seiko Epson Corporation
“Development of MACH-Jet technology”

 
Award details: By developing a new piezo element that has approximately 20 layers of piezo sheets and electrodes, they have created an inkjet head that is small, has large ink jetting power, and has high controllability. It made high-quality, low-cost color inkjet printers practical.
 

Minoru Usui, Masayuki Morozumi, Shuichi Yamaguchi, Motonori Okumura, Takashi Nakamura (Information and Imaging Business Division)
 

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“New screen technology ‘HIEST’ that emphasizes highlights”

 
Award details: By halving the number of screen lines in highlights (low-density areas) in consideration of digitally processed halftone screen technology and visual characteristics, the reproducibility and stability of highlights has been dramatically improved. It has been put into practical use by being installed in a high-speed digital full-color copying machine.
 

Yasuhiro Oda, Kazuhiko Arai, Kazuhiro Iwaoka, Masao Hattori (Research Institute)
 

Minolta Co., Ltd.
“Distortion correction technology for book scanners”

 
Award details: They solved the problem of out-of-focus and image distortion when copying books by using distance measurement, shape measurement, and digital processing technology, and put it into practical use by installing it in an electrostatic copying machine that faces up the document.
 

Toshihiko Karasawa, Shinya Matsuda, Noriyuki Nobuyuki, Shinichi Fujii, Koichi Kamon (Takatsuki Laboratory)
 

FY 1994 (5th)

Ricoh Company, Ltd.
“Development of polymer/low molecule composite thermoreversible recording material”

 
Award details: They have developed a recording material that can reversibly change its transparent state or cloudy state depending on the heating temperature by dispersing a low-molecular substance having a fatty acid-based long-chain alkyl group in a vinyl chloride resin. Furthermore, the basic mechanism of this reversible change was elucidated, and the quality and reliability were improved by expanding the transparent temperature range and improving repeat durability, and the card was put into practical use as a rewritable card.
 

Yoshihiko Hotta, Akira Suzuki, Yukio Kohasegawa, Atsushi Kutami, Keiji Kubo (Chemicals Business Headquarters)
 

Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
“Development of TA Full Color Hard Copy System”

 
Award details: A photofixable heat-sensitive recording material containing a diazonium salt compound as a color-forming element and a heat-sensitive recording material containing an electron-donating dye precursor as a color-forming element were combined. A method for recording full-color images by alternately repeating thermal recording and optical fixation of images was developed and put into practical use. The feature is that the instability of diazonium salt compounds is eliminated by using microcapsules whose material permeability changes depending on temperature. They have successfully commercialized a TA (thermo-autochrome) video printer using this recording material.
 

Toshimasa Usami, Akira Igarashi, Sadao Ishige, Masamichi Sato, Michitoshi Takayama (Fujinomiya Laboratory/Electronic Imaging Division)
 

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
“Compact one-component development method using magnet inside photoreceptor”

 

Award details: A magnetic cascade development method was devised in which a newly developed magnetic toner is adhered to the entire surface of the photoreceptor by a magnet inside the photoreceptor, and then only the unnecessary toner is removed by a collection roller to leave a toner image.
A high-quality image can be obtained, and since the toner collection roller rotates without carrying toner, there are no stains caused by toner scattering. It was put into practical use by being installed in a plain paper facsimile machine.


 

Hajime Yamamoto, Hiroshi Terada, Hitoshi Hisada, Kazumasa Hayashi, Yasuhito Yuasa (Development Headquarters Product Technology Development Center)
 

FY 1993 (4th)

Ricoh Company, Ltd.
“Development of space-saving high-quality digital full-color PPC”

 
Award details: By using a transfer belt, they have realized a space-saving digital full-color copying machine, and they have improved the stability of image quality by using roller transfer and various controls. Furthermore, they have achieved faithful color reproduction and clear images by improving the halftone detection ability using a new image area separation method and by using color correction technology using the hue division masking method. As a digital full-color copier, this technology comprehensively achieves speed, miniaturization, and high image quality, and has a high level of system performance and technology.
 

Takashi Bisaiji, Yasunori Kawaishi, Yoshinori Ito, Kaoru Imao
 

Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.

“Development of Semiconductor Laser Optical System for High Speed Laser Beam Printer”

 
Award details: As a high-speed laser beam printer, they applied a semiconductor laser for the first time, tried to miniaturize the optical system, and developed optical system technology that realizes high-precision beam scanning. A high-speed and high-definition optical system has been achieved by stabilizing the beam scanning technology, which reduces the number of rotations of the polygon to half by parallel scanning with two beams. Furthermore, a new aspherical scanning lens was developed to achieve a wide angle of view and high resolution. This technology achieves high-speed laser beam printers by employing multi-beam scanning and comprehensive design including the optical system.
 

Takeshi Mochiduki, Makoto Nakura, Minoru Kiyono, Akira Arimoto, Susumu Saito
 

FY 1992 (3rd)

Ricoh Company, Ltd.
“4-drum digital color electrophotographic system”

 
Koji Hirakura, Yasumori Nagahara, Mitsuo Hasebe
 

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
“High-quality digital color xerography technology”

 
Koichi Takiguchi, Koichi Tanaka, Kazuaki Furuya, Kazuo Terao, Yasuji Fukase
 

Caono Inc.
“Development of a wait-less heat fixing system”

 
Akira Yamamoto, Kensaku Kusaka, Atsushi Hosoi, Hidekazu Maruta, Shigeo Kimura
 

FY 1991 (2nd)

Minolta Camera Co., Ltd.
“Development of laser intensity modulation image reproduction system”

 
Masaru Komura, Kazuyuki Fukui, Takanobu Yamada, Yoshihiro Hattori, Shigeo Ogino
 

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd
“1-pass 2-color electrophotographic process technology”

 
Kazuo Maruyama, Tsuneo Noami, Takeshi Saikawa, Koji Adachi, Nobumasa Furuya
 

Canon Inc.
“Development of charging roller/transfer roller system”

 
Junji Araya, Yukihiro Ozeki, Koichi Okuda, Hiroki Kisu, Shunji Nakamura
 

FY 1987 (1st)

Ricoh Company, Ltd.
“Development of high-sensitivity laminated OPC photoreceptor”

 
Mitsuru Hashimoto, Masaomi Sasaki, Kyohji Tsutsui, Katsuichi Ohta, Akio Kojima
 

Minolta Camera Co., Ltd.
“Development system using binder type small particle carrier (microtoning method)”

 
Norio Tashima, Susumu Tanaka, Tateki Oka, Kenji Tabuchi
 

Canon Inc.
“Cartridge system using OPC and jumping development”

 
Hiroshi Nitanda, Takashi Saito, Masashi Kiuchi, Shozo Ishida, Haruhisa Honda, Yasuo Mitsuhashi
 

 


 
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